Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman recently released an expansive box set called Bill Wyman Treasury offering an in-depth look at his solo career. The seven-CD, 107-track collection features Wyman’s six solo studio albums, plus a variety of bonus tracks. Among the latter tunes are 12 previously unreleased demo recordings.
Wyman has been promoting the box set by posting a series of videos on his socials featuring him being interviewed about various parts of his solo career. In the latest clip, the 89-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer discusses his biggest solo hit, the quirky synth-pop gem “(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star.”
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The tune was released as a single in 1981, and then was included on his 1982 self-titled third solo album.
In the interview segment, Bill revealed that it took him less than a half hour to write the song. He also shared that the music was inspired by Guyanese-born rocker Eddy Grant, best known in the U.S. for his 1983 smash “Electric Avenue.”
“[I]t just came out, I just did that in 20 minutes,” Wyman said of writing “(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star.” “You know, really good songs, they really come out so quickly. And I was just down in my little four-track studio, which was … really crude, in France. … And I did this rhythm [inspired by an Eddy Grant song]. … Then I thought, ‘Well, I need some lyrics here.’ I went upstairs, and just sat with this little cassette player, and I just wrote the whole thing.”
More About Eddy Grant’s Influence on “(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star”
Grant was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1948 and moved to London with his family in 1960. He was the founding lead guitarist and a principal songwriter of the mixed-race British rock band The Equals. The group scored a No. 1 U.K. hit in 1968 with “Baby, Come Back,” which Grant wrote.
Grant left The Equals in 1971 and launched a solo career in the mid-1970s. He eventually relocated to Barbados.
In the video interview, Wyman explained that he loved Grant’s music and that the two became friends. Bill noted that the bouncy rhythm of Grant’s 1979 solo tune “Say I Love You” was a musical inspiration for “(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star.”
“I said to [Eddy], ‘Do you mind if I sort of use that idea?’” Wyman said. “It’s not the same at all, but it’s the same kind of feel of the way the rhythm’s done. … And I said, ‘Do you mind if I do it?’ And he said, ‘No. Of course, go for it!’”
More About “(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star”
“(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star” peaked at No. 14 on the U.K. chart. Wyman originally wrote the song for British New Wave artist Ian Dury to record, but Dury wasn’t interested.
The danceable synth-pop tune features Wyman singing in a Cockney accent in Franglais, a mix of French and English together. The tune’s lyrics are sung from the perspective of a rock star. He’s trying to use his status as a famous musician to coax a young Brazilian woman he met in London to travel with him to the South of France for a romantic getaway.
In the video interview, Wyman boasted about the tune, “[W]hen I released it, it was like a hit … all around the world. Top 10 around the world.”
He then recalled, humorously, “[W]hen the French label first heard it, they said, ‘You’ve got to change all the lyrics, because you’re not saying the French correctly.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s the idea. It’s Franglais, isn’t it?’”
Wyman also remembered that DJs in London misunderstood the Franglais lyrics and thought he was saying at one point in the tune, “Come and share my advance.”
An HD version of the “(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star” music video is streaming on Wyman’s YouTube channel.
(Photo by Koh Hasebe /Shinko Music/Getty Images)